Foxy Hipster

In Our Foxy Hipster Pro Tutorial, we’re going to do some creative retouching on a funky colourful portrait. We made a Pro Tutorial that’s accessible to anyone who wants to learn a bit more about portrait retouching. This tutorial will give you a very in-depth look into how we structure our workflow to get to that colourful final image. Once you’ve gone through all the lessons you’ll be able to apply these techniques to your own work!

This tutorial involves plenty of techniques, some you might be familiar with, and others not. It’s also important to remember that each image is different and tweaking your technique could help you create a stunning image. With over 12 very comprehensive lessons you’ll be able to take all these techniques, tips and tricks to create something colourful and amazing. This tutorial covers everything about the entire process, including photography and light setup, and retouching techniques. Techniques like colour & sharpening, working with masks; dodge & burn, and many others

The idea behind the tutorial is not only to familiarise people with the techniques but also to help them understand the reason for using certain methods and not using others.

Included in your Pro Tutorial – 2.5 Hours Step by Step guide

• Lesson 1 – Planning & Photography Settings
• Lesson 2 – Light Setup & Diagram
• Lesson 3 – Preparations & Raw Conversions
• Lesson 4 – Help Layers & Notes
• Lesson 5 – Basic Retouching & Cleaning
• Lesson 6 – Comprehensive Hair Retouching
• Lesson 7 – Liquefying & Image Adjustments
• Lesson 8 – Comprehensive Skin Retouching
• Lesson 9 – Colour & Light Control Adjustments
• Lesson 10 – Dodge & Burn
• Lesson 11 – Fixing Sunglass Refections
• Lesson 12 – Crop & Final Adjustments
• Lesson 13 – Adding Graphic Elements
• Lesson 14 –  Final Colour Adjustments & Retouch

Included working files

• RAW – Source File
• PSD – Photoshop File

Final Retouched Image | Before & After

Planning & Photography Settings

The first lesson will focus on the planning. Planning involves a variety of different elements that come together in the end to capture the perfect image in camera. Some of the elements we explore in this lesson is, of course, the setup, which includes the best light setup, the right colour backdrop and the best pose for the model. The model on the other hand forms the other part of the planning. We take a lot of time to consider the perfect model for the Pro Tutorial.

In-depth Light Setup & Diagram 

This lesson is a very comprehensive look at the light setup we used for the shoot. When you shoot something like the Foxy Hipster it is important to get a perfect exposure all around. This doesn’t just involve a perfectly exposed model, but an evenly exposed backdrop as well. For this shoot, we used a four light setup with lights and modifiers directed at both the model and backdrops. We also used poly boards around the subject to make sure we capture that even exposure.

Preparations & Raw Conversions

In our first retouching lesson, we will concentrate on our basic adjustments in camera raw and import our raw image into Photoshop. This process helps us to pre-adjust the contrast, exposure, image pop and subtle sharpening.

Help Layers & Notes

For this lesson, we will put the techniques on hold and create a new help layer in order to point out all the retouching steps. This helps us to stay focused during the retouching process. This is not an obligation, but it does help during the retouching process since you can always fall back on it and remind yourself of what still needs to be done.

Basic Retouching & Cleaning  

Now that we have a basic understanding of what we want to retouch, we will concentrate on cleaning up our background and subject. This is not a major obstacle, even thought it might seem labour intensive. What’s important to remember is that the more time you invest into cleaning, the better your image will look. It involves a few steps, such as healing, cloning and refining the background dust marks

Comprehensive Hair Retouching

Now that we’ve finished the basic retouching, we’re going to focus a bit more on the hair, as it draws you into the image. We will only be working in selected areas. We’ll need to fill in colour in some areas, working some fill colour, and then making sure to have an even exposure over the hair by using adjustment layers like the Curves Adjustment Layer.

Liquefying & Image Adjustments

It’s important to understand that the Liquify Tool helps to refine an image. The idea is not to create a different person. The changes we implement are very subtle and only done with the intention to create a perfect picture.

Comprehensive Skin Retouching

This is a very important part of the retouching process. Just as with cleaning and healing it might appear to be labour intensive, but the more effort you apply the better your image will look. Here we will apply lots of techniques to ensure that we get that smooth silky skin. This section will involve working with both the High Pass Filter and the Gaussian Blur, but a little bit different to what you might be used to. These will basically be applied in the reverse effect – The High Pass will blur while the Gaussian Blur will sharpen.

Colour & Light Control Adjustments

Now that we’ve adjusted our colour the way we want it, we will start working on the light control. This will mostly involve using a Curves Adjustment to add a touch of contrast to the image as well as a Selective Colour Adjustment Layer to adjust our colours. We’ll also apply a Hue and Saturation Adjustment layer and work in the red tones. For the light control, we’ll start off by using the marque tool to create a circular selection around our subject. We then feather the selection and apply a Curves Adjustment Layer, which we’ll use to create a vignette effect as well as adding a light pop to the subject.

Dodge & Burn 

In this section, we will be working with our famous Dodge & Burn technique. The main thing about dodging and burning means we are going to dodge the highlights and burn the shadows. This will allow us to emphasise the highlights and shadows in our image. (We have an excellent Free Tutorial on this technique – Find it here).

Fixing Sunglass Reflections

Another aspect of this image is the props. Our model wore a pair of sunglasses and the reflections from the strobes are quite apparent. The process will involve creating two new layers, one for each lens of the sunglasses. We then use the pen tool to make a circular selection of each  lens. Make sure when you make your selection that the feathering is set to zero. We then use the Gradient Tool, Noise filters and masks to create the perfect and realistic look.

Crop & Final Adjustments

Now that we’ve done most of our retouching, we will add our final adjustments. Here we’ll be working with the Selective Colour Adjustment Layer to create or to add that extra flare of colour to the image. We’ll also crop the image down to the perfect size.

Adding Graphic Elements

Here we’ll be adding shapes, namely, bubbles the background. Here we’ll be working with Effects and Layer Masks to create the effect of bubbles behind and around the subject.

Final Colour Adjustments & Retouch

For the final lesson, we’ll work with adding a bit of colour to the selected areas that might otherwise appear a bit bland compared to the rest of the image. For this we’ll be using Solid Colour layers, layer masks and Hue and Saturation Adjustment layers to add colour to selected areas.

Bonus Material & Lessons

Additional to this course we’ve also added a list of bonus tutorials that would compliment this course as well as a lesson that will focus on the Wacom Pen Tablet and how to set it up.